Everybody knows horses need forage and grain…but how much? how often? what kind? what else? The answers

may be slightly different for each horse depending on size, breed, use, and stage of development.

over the course of each day. Although the stomach is relatively small, the hindgut is quite large, and its function

is critical to the horse’s health and nutrition. The hindgut is inhabited by billions of microbes that aid in

the digestion of fiber. Fiber fermentation produces volatile fatty acids including butyrate, acetate, and propionate

that can be used by horses to meet their energy needs.

To maintain proper function of the intestinal tract, all horses should be fed some roughage daily. An amount

and most economical way to meet the horse’s fiber requirement, and turnout on pasture can be an important

part of a good feeding program. Management of pasture is critical to maintaining forage quality. Soil testing

should be done routinely, with liming, fertilizing, mowing, and rotating scheduled as needed.

Hay is the fiber alternative used most often if pasture is not available. Orchardgrass, fescue, and timothy are

typical grasses made into hay; alfalfa and clover are legumes used for the same purpose. Legumes are generally

higher in nutritive value than are grasses, but many classes of horses do not require this level of nutrition.

Good hay should be sweet-smelling, green, leafy, and free of weeds and tough, stemmy plants. Moldy or dusty

hay should not be fed to horses. Plants develop more indigestible lignin (woody material) as they mature, so hay

cut earlier in the growth cycle is generally more appetizing and nutritious than plants that have been allowed to

grow to full size.

For some feeding programs, the so-called “super fibers” such as soy hulls and beet pulp are excellent choices to

provide the benefits of fiber as well as contributing energy.

energy. Grain-based concentrates have traditionally provided this extra energy. Plants store energy in their seeds

in the form of starch, and these energy-packed cereal grains such as oats, corn, and barley are staples of many

livestock diets. The chains of glucose molecules that make up starch are metabolized in the horse’s small intestine

to produce glycogen.

Easily digested in the small intestine, fat is absorbed as free fatty acids. This source of energy may reduce the

amount of glycogen burned in low-intensity exercise. While fat can be used by all classes of horses, concentrates

with added fat (those that contain more than about 5% fat) are particularly well suited to horses performing

intense exercise.

A publication of Kentucky Equine Research, Inc. • 3910 Delaney Ferry Road • Versailles, KY 40383 USA • 859-873-1988, Fax 859-879-0770 • www.ker.com

good, but these grains by themselves don’t supply all the nutrients necessary for growth and development

in young horses or for tissue maintenance and energy production in intensely exercised horses.

Textured feed, or sweet feed, is a mixture of several cereal grains and molasses. A balancer pellet is included to

provide minerals and vitamins. Other ingredients such as powdered fat, rice bran, and beet pulp may be added.

Sweet feed is dustless, sweet-smelling, and palatable to most horses; it is somewhat messy to handle and may

tend to mold in hot, humid climates.

Pelleted feeds generally contain the same ingredients as sweet feeds. The ingredients are ground, steam-treated,

and forced through a pelleting die. Pellets eliminate sorting of ingredients by picky horses. They have a longer

shelf life and are not likely to mold.

can be avoided and where horses don’t have access. Hay should be fed several times a day, avoiding long periods

where the horse has nothing to nibble on. Owners should be sure that horses always have access to fresh,

clean water.

The daily grain ration should be broken up into two, three, or more small feeding of less than five pounds each.

Owners should consult with feed dealers to select products designed for the type, age, and use of each horse in

their care. After using a scale or weight tape to determine each horse’s size, the owner can check feeding

instructions for the amount to give each horse. Taking into account the horse’s body condition (too thin, too

heavy, or about right) and work level, the owner can monitor weight loss or gain every month or so, adjusting

the amount or type of forage and concentrate to keep the horse healthy and energetic.

should be eating 15 pounds of hay a day. If your horse is out on pasture half the day then they should be eating

half of their forage requirement out on grass and should eat 7.5 lbs of hay when they are in the stall.

Grain is the hard one! Everyone goes to the feed store and looks at all the different kinds of feeds but

when you are picking one out...it is the right choice? I prefer the ration balancer feed. Two feeds come to mind: progressive

 nutrition and buckeye both of which are ration balancers, meaning in one to two pounds they can provide your horse with

all the daily nutrition. For a horse in minimal work these feeds are perfect. For a horse that is in training you will need to add a

high calorie feed like oats to supplement with. If your horse is a hard keeper but you do not want him to be high energy another

additional feed could be fat food or beet pulp. If you have an easy keeper the ration balancers are perfect. If they

are still overweight you can cut back on the grass especially rich grass in the spring time but the key is exercise!

A good way to keep track of your horses weight is by measuring with a weight tape. These are not exactly accurate but if you

measure with the same one all the time then it can still give you an idea if your horse is loosing or gaining weight.

Also, it is a good idea to "condition score" your horse. You can try and do this yourself as it is a system based on the

degree of fatness of your horse ranging from 0-5. 0 being emaciated and 5 being obese.

This table will also help with determining what body condition score your horse is: